Portsmouth publican issues fresh warning over impact of cheap supermarket deals on business

MILES O’LEARY

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FRESH warnings have been issued about the impact supermarkets are having on the pub trade.

It comes as a new report by the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) reveals alcohol continues to be sold at ‘pocket money’ prices in stores and off-licences.

I am currently doing my end of quarter accounts at the moment, and while we made a recovery in the summer, the first three months of the year, weren’t good at all for us.

Paul Saynor, co-landlord of The Rose in June

Researchers found that high-strength white cider, which they say is mostly drunk by dependent and underage drinkers, is being sold for as little as 16p per unit of alcohol.

The report said that for the cost of a standard off-peak cinema ticket (£8.24), people could buy 7.5 litres of the cheapest white cider – the equivalent of 53 shots of vodka.

For the cost of a monthly Netflix subscription at £7.49, you would have change from buying two three-litre bottles of Frosty Jack’s.

And £10 will not buy you a large Domino’s pizza, but you would have a penny left over from a 700ml bottle of 40 per cent Putinoff vodka at £9.99.

Paul Saynor, co-landlord of The Rose in June, in Milton Road, Copnor, Portsmouth, is concerned. He said: ‘We have never been able to compete with supermarket prices anyway. And I am seeing, this year, a further reduction in people using the pub.

‘I am doing my end of quarter accounts at the moment, and while we made a recovery in the summer, the first three months of the year, weren’t good at all for us.

‘The supermarket prices have something to do with it.

‘People are pre-loading before they go out – more and more people drinking indoors. That’s because of cashflow, the cheap deals in supermarkets and because of Brexit; people are keeping hold of the funds they have got.’